Tag Archives: Reflection

About a year ago, I finished Parker Palmer’s Book: “A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward An Undivided Life”. It came at a particularly critical time for me as I had been, and frankly still am, searching for how to live my inner self, outwardly. Once again, much like John O’Brien and his Integrity Gap nailing some guilt I’d been struggling with, with an actual name, Parker Palmer’s wisdom opens clarity about the journey I find myself in. I’ve linked in a 6-minute clip of Parker Palmer talking about what he means by ‘divided life’, where it comes from and how it can be detrimental to our living a life with true purpose.

I’m interested in being the best version of myself…but think, perhaps, I’ve been going about it the wrong way. Looking introspectively into my life, grasping a true sense of what I believe, what I stand for, then drives how I interface with the world and humans around me. If I can be my true self, then the authenticity that Palmer speaks of, permeates all interactions, connections and relationships. Subsequently, my life becomes whole, vibrant, salient and purpose-driven…and a purpose-driven life, hopefully, provides a compass for which my children perhaps will use to guide them as they evolve into contributing citizens, in their chosen places, where ever they land, and with whomever they are with.

This week I’m linking in a TED Talk about the question which stands as the foundation for our learning here on Come In From The Cold: How do we truly welcome people? Well, Jan Gunnarsson gives his answer brilliantly in this short talk. He calls it Hostmanship, the art of making people feel welcome. Jan says “we must welcome ourselves, before we can welcome others,” something I have pondered for years…we need to be right for ourselves, if we are to be right for others. Once we do this, and we ‘make the right choice’ every morning when we rise, we can truly be hosts to everyone we find ourselves around…every day of our lives and welcome, welcome, welcome. I welcome you to give yourself 8 minutes…it will be time well spent 🙂 Sending my gratitude to you all…

A few weeks ago, just shortly after I first drafted our interview questions (which Kirk mentioned and used for his post last week), I interviewed David Merrick. David and his delightful eight year-old daughter came for lunch, and then we conducted our interview while our children played in the background. David is someone I have only met a handful of times in person. I noticed his community spirit through Facebook, where I saw him suggesting community initiatives, and experienced him responding energetically and positively to suggestions for local action that I had made.

Approaching the end of our 2nd year of blogging, which we are grateful for indeed, we embark on year 3 with a new sense of hope and growing desire to hear from wonderful people, doing wonderful things, by simply living who they are! Linda and I, who are we kidding, Linda, drafted some thoughtful questions for us to ask people we come in contact with, work with, have just met, and/or are downright in awe of!

Back in the first month of existence for Come In From The Cold, Linda juxtaposed gardening with community building, specifically in her village of Ratho and her very own garden. Journey back with us by reading 7 Thoughts on Gardening and Life. The pictures beam vibrantly and the parallels weave in and out of the post beautifully. This process of looking back is proving to be quite beneficial to us as we regain traction on where we were upon the inception of this space and where we are headed…we hope you don’t mind it too much 🙂

Today our good friend Peter Leidy contributes to Come In From The Cold as a guest blogger!!! Enjoy!!!

My wife, Betsy, and I are on the plane home after a lovely time in Puerto Vallarta. We like to stay in the old part of the city, miles away from the all-inclusive resorts, strolling the town and swimming in Banderas Bay. We love the colorful mix of locals and tourists (mostly Mexicans from Guadalajara and Canadian/US visitors.) Ahh, the days on Los Muertos beach.

Peter and Betsy

I had brought my Frisbee with the hope of finding willing players, but so far, no luck. Continue reading →

Our good friend, Sheldon Schwitek, posted this TED talk to Linda and I on Facebook a couple of weeks ago…specifically because he thought it resonates with our blog. Little did he know I would repost it…muahahahahahahaha!!!!! In all seriousness, it is being reposted because it is brilliant (Thanks Sheldon…so are you!).

Come In From The Cold · WELCOME… How can we make sure we invite everybody in, leaving nobody out in the cold? SIT… How do we get to know one another better? To start to care? STAY… How can we deepen our connections and dream together about a beloved community? This blog is a space of observations, questions and reflection about community. From San Diego and Scotland, we discovered that we needed to embark on a joint learning journey. We invite you to join us. – Kirk Hinkleman and Linda Keys